COVID Impact: Tourism & Social Media

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel industry is faced with a difficult question: In a time where no one is traveling, how do you engage with your customers in a meaningful way? What we’ve seen is that every company is approaching their external communications differently and social media is no exception.

Here, we’ve examined a variety of organizations—United, Delta, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors and the U.S. Travel Association—to determine how they’re engaging with travelers on social media. As you might expect, companies are focusing their messaging on COVID-19-inspired policy changes. However, some are using their platforms (Twitter and Facebook) to frequently engage and share inspiring customer photos or spark travel interest with virtual road trips. Others are choosing to significantly scale back how frequently they communicate on social media.

The infographic showcases trends including how much of each company’s content focused on COVID-19, the most commonly used social networks, the frequency of posting, and the type of content shared. A few highlights:

• Twitter was the primary social platform for airlines and the U.S. Travel Association
• Hilton and Marriott used Facebook most frequently when posting on social, though these hotels posted infrequently compared to airlines
• Marriott posted the least frequently with only 12 social posts
• The U.S. Travel Association posted most frequently with 243 social posts
• In March, Delta did not go more than two days without posting